The New York Yankees are firmly in a Wild Card spot in the American League, but with the team still holding out hopes of chasing down the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East division race, they need a strong two months to finish out the 2026 season.
Right now, they’re doing it without three of their biggest stars in Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, and while they’ve had moments of brilliance as a team without them, the team has clearly missed those experienced bats in the middle of the lineup. One player that has been given a bigger role in their absence is Spencer Jones, and after finding himself hitting third in recent days, he’s dropped down the order following a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Spencer Jones Hitting 5th for the Yankees
GettySpencer Jones of the New York Yankees.
During the series opening loss on the road against the Toronto Blue Jays, Spencer Jones went 1-4, but ahead of the second game of a very important series to New York’s 2026 season, he’s been demoted. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as the Yankees have been changing their lineup constantly in recent weeks, and now, Jones will be hitting 5th on Saturday while playing in right field once more.
T. Grisham CF B. Rice DH H. Ramos LF L. García Jr. 1B S. Jones RF J. Chisholm Jr. 2B G. Lombard Jr. SS R. McMahon 3B A. Wells C
C. Schlittler SP
If he can continue performing positively as he has lately, this could give the Yankees lineup more depth, and with the Blue Jays going with Brayden Fisher as an opener, the Yankees wanted to split the left/right handed hitters up throughout the lineup.
As for Jones, he’s been playing well as of late and showing great promise, but hitting 3rd comes with great responsibility, and given that he’s gone 7-42 overall this month, taking his season numbers to .214 with a .701 OPS, it’s easy to see why the Yankees wanted to take that pressure off his shoulders.
Can the Yankees Chase Down top Spot in the AL East?
While it may be a while before the Yankees three big stars return from the Injured List, there’s still plenty of talent in this lineup, and with young star George Lombard showing out early in his career, this is a team full of belief moving forward.
However, we saw the worst of the Yankees in their series opener with the Blue Jays, with the team managing just five hits and committing two errors as they fell 3-1, and with both Boston and Toronto breathing down their neck, they’ll be looking for a bounce back performance in this one.
Thankfully, it’s Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler taking the mound for this matchup as they look to even the series 1-1, and with Jones sliding down the lineup providing more depth and balance, the hope is that they can find some serious spark before their big bats get back into the lineup, hopefully in the coming weeks.
Yankees Spencer Jones Demoted Following Tough Blue Jays Loss